Bullet resistant fabric and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

A method for imparting ballistic resistant characteristics to a textile fabric by placing a polymer film on the fibers of a high tenacity fiber fabric which has a coefficient of friction higher than the coefficient of friction of the high tenacity fibers. The fabric, after the placement of the polymer film is subjected to a high velocity air stream to break up any fiber-to-fiber bonds in the fabric.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 779,806 filed Oct. 21, 1991 for bullet resistant fabric and method of manufacture.

The present invention relates to combinations of polymeric fibers having low coefficients of friction with polymeric coatings having high coefficients of friction to provide a fabric which is more resistant to penetration by metallic or other objects such as bullets, flechettes, shrapnel, etc.

Polymer fibers having high tensile strength and high modulus typically are highly oriented, resulting in very smooth fiber surfaces and a low coefficient of friction. Such fibers, when used in the construction of ballistic fabrics, exhibit poor energy transfer to neighboring fibers during ballistic impact, resulting in loss of stopping efficiency. Because of this loss of efficiency, more fabric layers are required to stop a projectile of a given velocity. Known methods of increasing the coefficient by roughing such as sanding or corona treatment have limited utility due to the degradation in tensile strength of the fiber.

Another method of increasing energy transfer between adjacent fibers or yarns in ballistic fabric is to coat the fabric with a polymer having a high coefficient of friction. One deficiency in this approach is fiber to fiber bonds that may form, resulting in stress reflections at yarn crossovers during ballistic impact and premature fiber breakage. Another deficiency is the large weight gain typical of coatings, which may be several percent. This added weight degrades the ballistic efficiency, which is taken as the energy adsorbed per unit areal density. Since the coating itself has negligible tensile strength when compared to the fiber, it reduces the average tensile strength of the fabric. Yet another deficiency of some coatings is a lack of adequate adherence of the coating to the smooth fiber surface. Material that is stripped off during a ballistic impact can serve to reduce the effective coefficient of friction by acting as a dry lubricant between fibers.

Hogenboom, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,111, disclose a method for improving the ballistic performance of fabric by core spinning high strength fibers in combination with weaker fibers having a higher coefficient of friction. These relatively high friction fibers, present at a 5 to 25% level by weight, degrade the ballistic efficiency in the same manner as high add-on coating. Although gains in ballistic performance may be made by increasing the energy transfer yarn to yarn, concomitant reductions in performance must necessarily result from the presence of large amounts of ballistically inferior fiber.

It is an object of the present invention to supply a ballistic fabric composed of high strength, high modulus polymeric fibers, coated with a thin, high friction polymeric material.

It is a further object of this invention to supply said fabric with a coating tenaciously adhering to the fibers of the substrate with few or no fiber to fiber bonds.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with resect to accompanying drawings, in which: a flexible impact resistant article of clothing is shown with a portion thereof in cross-section to show the construction thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a person wearing a bullet proof vest using a fabric made by the method disclosed herein, and

FIG. 2 is a piece of the fabric of the vest of FIG. 1 shown in partial cross-section.

Looking now to the drawing, the fabric 10 is shown made into a bullet resistant vest 12 and basically comprises a multiplicity of Kevlar fabrics 14 treated as herein-described and connected together by stitching or other means to form the vest 12. The outer face of the vest 12 can be treated with a water repellant finish, if desired.

According to the invention, it has been found that a polymer film deposited on the fiber by the method described in Kuhn, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,803,096; 4,877,646; 4,981,718; 4,975,317 and 5,030,508 improves the ballistic performance of fabrics measurably. A polypyrrole film, when deposited onto the fiber composing a Kevlar fabric at a film thickness of about 0.15 microns, was found to increase the flechette resistance by about 19%. A flechette is a military weapon that resembles a nail with small fins which when launched at ballistic velocities is unusually penetrating. When tested against a 0.22 caliber bullet fired from a rifle, an 18 layer stack of coated Kevlar fabric was penetrated to a depth of only 3 or 4 layers, as compared to a depth of 6 or 7 layers for an 18 layer stack of uncoated fabric. Furthermore, the coating remained completely adhered to the fiber even in the area of direct impact. Other films, such as polyaniline can be formed so long as the coating has a coefficient of friction higher than the high tenacity fiber of the basic fabric.

In the case of ballistic fabric of exceptionally tight weave, it is found that some debris and crossover bonds do form during the coating, due to a certain amount of dendritic growth. In this case, it is necessary to remove the debris and break apart the bonding which can be accomplished most efficiently by vibrating the fabric by means of air stream directed between the fabric and a rigid plate by one or more air jets as described in U.S. Pat. No. 483,793.

EXAMPLE

Fifty grams of a Kevlar fabric woven in a balanced weave with 200 denier Kevlar 29 warp and weft yarn is placed in a closed container with 29.0 grams of the oxidizing agent FeCl₃ with 750 ml of water and agitated at room temperature. Then 2.0 grams of the monomer pyrrole mixed with 250 ml of water was added to FeCl₃ solution over a period of 30 minutes while continuing to agitate the container. Then the closed container was agitated for an additional period of 31/2 hours to polymerize the pyrrole and coat same onto the Kevlar fabric. The coated fabric was then removed from the container, rinsed and air dried. It was found that the coefficient of friction (8) of the coated Kevlar had increased from 0.19 for the untreated Kevlar fabric to 0.27 for the treated fabric.

Then, since the treated fabric exhibited some cross-over bonding and debris the treated fabric agitated by passing a high speed air stream between the fabric and a flat plate as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,902 to cause saw-toothed waves to form in the treated fabric to break apart the bonds formed between fibers to eject the debris collected therein. Air was supplied at 30 p.s.i. as the treated fabric flowed therethrough at an average fabric speed of about 30 yards per minute. After this treatment the coefficient of friction (f) of the fabric was 0.24 resulting in about a 19% improvement in stopping a flechette than an uncoated fabric.

Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, it is contemplated that changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention and it is desired that the invention be limited only by the scope of the claims. 

I claim:
 1. A method for imparting ballistic resistant characteristics to a textile material, which comprises contacting the textile material with an aqueous solution of an oxidatively polymerizable compound, selected from a pyrrole compound and an aniline compound, and an oxidizing agent capable of oxidizing said compound to a polymer, said contacting being under conditions at which the compound and the oxidizing agent react with each other to form a prepolymer in said aqueous solution before either the compound or the oxidizing agent are adsorbed by, or deposited on or in, the textile material; adsorbing onto the surface of said textile material the prepolymer and allowing the adsorbed prepolymer to polymerize while adsorbed on said textile material so as to uniformly and coherently cover the fibers of the textile material with a film of said polymer and subjecting the treated fabric to a high speed air stream to cause saw-tooth waves to form in said fabric to break apart any bonds formed between fibers of the fabric. 